The brother of a man nabbed for illicit sand mining was shot dead by the police on Tuesday after he allegedly attacked them near Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district.
Tension prevailed at Marukaalkurichi since afternoon following the incident with villagers blocking traffic on the nearby national highway for more than two hours.
The police said that T. Murugan (25) of Marukaalkurichi was involved in illicit clay and sand mining for the past several months and cases had been registered against him. The police nabbed him on Monday night from his residence.
Soon, miscreants attacked the house of Petchithaai of Marukaalkurichi, who she filed a police complaint. When a police team, led by Nanguneri Inspector A. Vijayakumar, went to Marukaalkurichi for an enquiry on Petchithaai’s petition, Murugan’s elder brother T. Vanamamalai (30) entered into a heated argument with the Inspector.
He allegedly attacked the police officer with a sickle. Mr. Vijayakumar, who suffered an injury on his right hand, fired from his service pistol in self-defence. Vanamamalai was killed on the spot around 3.30 p.m. This triggered the protest.
The protesters demanded the unconditional release of Mr. Murugan, dismissal of the Inspector from service and his immediate arrest and a judicial probe into the killing of Vanamamalai.
They demanded compensation for his family, employment for his wife.
